Man gets 21 years for shooting stranger in Springfield

A Springfield man is to spend at least 21 years in prison for shooting a man he had just met at a convenience store.

According to a release from Greene County prosecutors, Maurice D. Jones, 26, received the sentence today on convictions for first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Judge Calvin Holden sentenced him to 25 years on the assault charge and three years on the charge of armed criminal action, with the sentences to run at the same time.

Because first-degree assault is considered a dangerous felony, Jones will have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before being eligible for parole.

About midnight on Aug. 3, 2012, Jones, while sitting in his car, shot a man at the Kum & Go parking lot at the corner of National Avenue and Chestnut Expressway, the release says.

Police say Jones shot the total stranger at point-blank range.

The victim, Arjuna Green, said he was sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot when he saw someone looking at him "weird," according to court documents filed against Jones.

Green said he rolled down the passenger window and asked the man if he knew him. Green said the man came over to the window, leaned over and rested his arms in the open window, according to the documents.

“Do I know you?” Green reportedly asked.

The man, whom Green later identified as Jones, then took a gun out of his pocket and shot him in the arm, according to the documents.

By the time Springfield police officers arrived at the scene, Jones and two others had jumped into a car and fled the scene, according to the documents.

Green's arm was shattered by the bullet, and he has had "extensive medical treatment" since the shooting. Fragments of the bullet still remain in the his arm, prosecutors say.

The court also found that Jones was a prior and persistent felony offender, including drug trafficking and stealing.

The case was tried by Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Philip Fuhrman and Nathan Taylor. It was investigated by Springfield police and Detective Kevin Cantrell was the lead investigator assigned to the case.